246 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



by Mr A. G. Tansley. Dr C. E. Moss lias also issued through 

 the Cambridge University Press a good example of a modern 

 vegetation survey in " The Vegetation of the Peak District," 

 and, whilst animal life does not lend itself so readily to ecological 

 treatment, there are tremendous possibilities in regard to birds, 

 as I have shown in a humble way in my " Bird Studies " (C.U. 

 Press, 1914). 



Many more sub-headings might be suggested; in fact, the 

 greater the number, the greater the value and interest of the 

 work, but a general summary of a scheme suggested by Mr Fagg 

 may here be given. It so happens, says the author, " that the 

 sub-division in the first summary happens to be ninefold, and is 

 thus well adapted to a decimal notation, the cipher being avail- 

 able for methodology." Here is Mr Fagg's infectious outline : 



(9) Incipient Evolution. 



(8) Social Evolution. (7) Historic Development. 



(Interpretative. ) (Descriptive. ) 



(6) Primitive Man. 

 (5) Animal Life. 

 (4) Vegetation. 

 (Edaphic Ecological Factors.) (Climatic Ecological Factors.) 



(3) Orography and Hydrography. 

 (1) Geology. (2) Meteorology. 



Mr Fagg's brief explanation of this scheme must be added so 

 as to make same more lucid. He writes : 



" In making a regional study, the Geology of the region is of 

 the first importance. It is the bedrock, both literally and meta- 

 phorically speaking, upon which all else is built. 



" Partly dependent upon the Geology, partly competing with 

 it as an influence upon life (and largely reacting upon it), is the 

 Meteorology of the region, the rain and sunshine, wind and 

 temperature. The interplay of meteorological phenomena and 

 geological formations determines the Hydrography that is, 

 the surface and underground drainage of the region, and gives 

 rise also to the denudation of the rocks. 



" Directly dependent upon the Geology and Meteorology is 

 the Vegetation, which in turn reacts upon them. Dependent 

 again upon the Vegetation, Climate, and Geology, and reacting 

 in a multitude of ways upon the first and last, is the Animal 

 Life. Finally, we name Mankind as dependent upon the whole 

 environment, and to an ever-increasing extent master of it. It 

 is in Mankind and his contemporaries that we find a link with 



